by Stephanie Manning
LOOKING AHEAD:
Coming up, groups are packing in their concerts before next week’s Thanksgiving holiday.
Tomorrow, pianist Simone Dinnerstein visits Tuesday Musical; and from Thursday through Saturday, conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali (pictured) and violinist Stefan Jackiw visit The Cleveland Orchestra.
Other ensembles presenting this week include Les Délices, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, CUSP, Heights Chamber Orchestra, and more. For more information, visit our Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READ:
Ahead of Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s debut with The Cleveland Orchestra this week, learn more about the Finnish conductor by revisiting this 2022 New York Times profile. Joshua Barone discusses not only Rouvali’s career at the podium, but also his history as a rock percussionist and his dedication to taking care of his farm in rural Finland.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Mike Telin
Today we celebrate the births of Carl Maria von Weber (1786), conductor Eugene Ormandy (1899), and violist/composer Lillian Fuchs (1901). As I scrolled through the list of other musical figures who were born on this day, I was curious to know who many of them were, or are. So today we celebrate the births of three people who were randomly selected from the list.
On this day in 1895, Swiss composer, pianist and conductor Ernst Levy was born in Basel, Switzerland. A noted musicologist, Levy taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and the New England Conservatory. His book, A Theory of Harmony, published in 1985, delves into his concept of harmonic “undertones.” His compositional output includes 14 works for orchestra, a cello concerto, over 30 chamber music works, and 7 piano sonatas. He retired from academia in 1966 and returned to his native Switzerland where he lived for the remainder of his life. He died in 1981 in Morges, Switzerland.
Click here to listen to his live performance of Brahms’ Intermezzo in A, Op.118, No.2.
In 1914, composer and organist Leif Solberg was born in Lena, Norway. Following the completion of his studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music. From 1938 to 1982 Solberg served as the organist in Lillehammer. In addition to numerous works for organ, his catalog includes cantatas, a string quartet, a violin sonata, and the Symphony in g. He died in 2016 at the age of 101.
Click here to listen to organist Tim Collins perform the Fugue from Solberg’s Fantasy and Fugue on the Folktune Se solens skjønne lys og prakt.
In 1927, composer and teacher Lawrence Moss was born in Los Angeles, California. Moss earned his B.A. at the University of California, Los Angeles, an M.A. from the Eastman School of Music, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. His teachers included Leon Kirchner and Ingolf Dahl. A recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Scholarship, and four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Moss has served on the facilities at Mills College, Yale University, and since 1969 has taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. His students include Northeast Ohio’s own Jeffrey Mumford. Moss makes his home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Click here to listen to an interview with Lawrence Moss titled “Alive and Composing.”
